Louis Masai painting Bog Turtle mural on ‘The Art of Beeing’ tour, New York
Tackling the extinction crisis across the USA, Human Nature has joined forces with pioneering recycled clothing brand EcoAlf for ‘The Art of Beeing’ tour. Since its emergence in 2009, the remarkable enterprise has already transformed over 30 million plastic bottles and 40 tonnes of fishing nets, striving to protect our ecosystems. At the cutting edge of a burgeoning market, EcoAlf is setting the agenda for recycled materials with a new generation of clothing for the future.
“We are presently using five times more natural resources than the planet is able to auto-generate” EcoAlf
EcoAlf Midnight Navy Kyoto Jacket, made with 52 recycled plastic bottles
After 13 years running a mainstream fashion business, Spanish entrepreneur and EcoAlf founder Javier Goyeneche was driven by exasperation with the vast waste produced by industrial economies, and endless exhaustion of natural resources. His new venture began with the simple concept of creating a fashion brand that is truly sustainable. Sharing the same values as Human Nature, EcoAlf strives through design and creativity to restore a balanced relationship with our natural environment and construct a better future.
“Where people see trash I see high quality raw materials” Javier Goyeneche
EcoAlf Black Asp Down Jacket and Black Gym Bag, made from recycled fishing nets
Encountering a small and poor quality market for recycled materials, Goyeneche spent three years investing in extensive research and development. Travelling the world, meeting with inventors, searching for technical expertise and manufacturing processes, he laid the groundwork for EcoAlf’s truly innovative, cradle-to-cradle production model and range of quality garments.
Louis Masai wearing EcoAlf Tasmania Anorak on ‘The Art of Beeing’ tour, Oakland, California, Image: Emil Walker
The repertoire of recycled materials sourced includes discarded fishing nets, post-consumer plastic bottles, worn-out tyres, post-industrial cotton, and used coffee grinds. This seeming trash, once transformed into a stylish catalogue of clothes, shoes and bags, rivals the most high-end non-recycled products in technical properties, quality and aesthetic. EcoAlf’s developments are changing the game, and not just in practical terms. Their mission – encapsulated in their Tras(h)umanity manifesto – targets a shift in collective mentality, reshaping the way we conceptualise natural resources and waste materials.
“We have to change the way we interact with the oceans” EcoAlf
EcoAlf Roan Rouge Ushiaia Light Jacket, made from recycled fishing nets
Today, the Madrid-based company boasts eleven active alliances worldwide, allowing them the scope to continually develop every aspect of the manufacturing processes with recycled materials. But their vision hasn’t stopped there. Last year, the EcoAlf Foundation embarked on its most ambitious project yet, to clean up our oceans.
Following in depth research and collaboration with fishermen and various industry leads, ‘Upcycling the Oceans’ entails the collection of marine debris from the seabed off the Spanish coast of Levante, and its transformation into pellets, thread, fabric and products. With 59 tons of garbage rescued since September 2015, the project takes on the 65,000 tons of fishing nets alone that line our ocean floors and strangle fragile ecosystems. Similar devastating ecological crises are propelling Human Nature and Artist Louis Masai’s work in ‘The Art of Beeing’ tour.
Louis Masai painting the Shasta Crayfish mural, Los Angeles, on ‘The Art of Beeing’ tour, Image: Tee Byford
The environmental benefits of ‘Upcycling the Oceans’ reach beyond the simple removal of marine pollutants. Their transformation into PET thread significantly reduces the amount of water waste, energy consumption and air pollution of conventional production processes. The reuse of this petroleum-based waste also prevents it from reaching its otherwise inevitable endpoint in a dump, or incineration, causing further harmful emissions.
“Because there is no Planet B” EcoAlf
With the realities of fast fashion increasingly hard to ignore, EcoAlf is leading an essential reformation in the industry. Championing a new paradigm for the way we think about making and buying, they usher in endless opportunities for a new platform of revolutionary clothing.
Have a scroll through their winter line as the cold starts creeping in, their clothes are the real deal. We should know, we’re wearing them.
Browse the EcoAlf website: http://ecoalf.com/uk_en/
Or follow them on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecoalf